The use of IP (Internet Protocol) devices on home networks such as those now commonly found in many customer premises, e.g., homes, offices, etc., is now relatively common place. While IP content delivery is growing in importance, older systems such as cable network content delivery systems often rely on delivery of content via one or more channels corresponding to particular frequencies, with the content being communicated over the channel using QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation). Such channels are sometimes referred to as QAM channels since they are dedicated to content delivery via QAM modulation. In order to recover data communicated over a QAM channel, the QAM channel is tuned to and the data, e.g., VOD (Video On Demand) content or broadcast program data, is recovered by demodulating and decoding the communicated content stream, e.g., an MPEG 2 video stream or other content stream. While the content stream may be encoded digital video, to recover the QAM channels a device requires a tuner with a QAM demodulator which is normally lacking in many IP devices.
Accordingly, IP devices coupled to a home network often can not directly access or obtain content from QAM channels due to the lack of a QAM tuner and/or direct access to a QAM channel of the content delivery network which supplies content to a customer premise, e.g., residence. Thus, while IP devices such as IP TVs and IP playback devices can playback content streamed via an IP packet steam, e.g., a unicast packet stream to the end device, they are often unable to take advantage of the existing QAM content delivery channels which are often available for providing VOD and/or other content on demand because of the lack of suitable tuner/demodulator hardware.
While the inability to directly stream content to IP devices over existing QAM channels limits the utility of such QAM channels with regard to IP devices, security concerns with regard to devices on a home network present another set of challenges to on demand service providers.
In order to provide some level of security in home networks, e.g., for IP based content delivery, various companies have formed an alliance referred to as the Digital Living Network Alliance sometimes referred to as DLNA. DLNA devices are devices which implement security operations in accordance with DLNA requirements set by the Digital Living Network Alliance. DLNA devices are required to be secure with respect to the content they process with content being transmitted from and between such devices in a secure manner, e.g., in encrypted form.
While DLNA provides some protection against non-DLNA devices being able to receive and/or use content being communicated by a DLNA device, the DLNA standard is designed with transparency in mind Any content published by a DLNA compliant device to a local network is normally accessible by any other DLNA compliant device on the local network.
While this may ensure that only DLNA compliant devices can use content published on a local network by another DLNA compliant device, it does nothing to limit content viewing to a single DLNA device, e.g., a single end consumer device of content being supplied, which is often desirable in the case of video on demand and/or other pay per view services where a customer often pays to have the content supplied to a particular device without the right to display the content on all the devices that may be located on a home network.
In view of the above discussion, it should be appreciated that there is a need for methods and apparatus which would allow QAM content delivery channels to be used to provide content to IP based devices, e.g, IP devices lacking a QAM tuner and demodulator, on a home network. It should also be appreciated that there is a need for limiting which devices on the home network are supplied with content in response to a video on demand and/or a pay per view content request.